The future of façade engineering: recycling, CO2-reduction & design for disassembly

Decarbonisation, digitalisation and circularity are also transforming façade engineering – alongside many other segments of the glass industry. glasstec 2024 showed how recycling and design for disassembly pave the way for sustainable building.

Glass is at the centre of a fundamental change in façade engineering. glasstec 2024 already made it very clear how such innovative approaches as recycling, re-use and design for disassembly (building concept that already looks at the potential for disassembly in the planning stage) make building more sustainable and resource-saving.

One example is the reuse of used IGUs. Their reuse has the potential of reducing the carbon footprint of both new and renovated buildings by saving resources and energy. “Reuse is a disruptive technology and could change the market completely,” explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Knaack, Head of the Façade Technology Chair at TU Darmstadt and TU Delft.

Another example: in the CircuClarity project Prof. Dr.-Ing. Linda Hildebrand and her colleagues work towards linking industry and research to make it possible to use materials and resources more efficiently for a more transparent circular economy. Covering this topic at glasstec were interesting keynotes with practical examples: efficient separation of IGUs, IGU separating machines, recycling of waste glass through to large-volume glass recovery or façade communication and data management from A to Z.

glasstec’s special show glass technology live presented visionary approaches such as modular façade structures and recyclable flat glass – a focal theme of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Knaack. At the same time, at the CircuClarity One conference Prof. Hildebrand shed light on the potential of circular building where materials are kept circulating in a closed loop and environmental data are managed better.

The results prove: glass not only remains a pivotal material in architecture but actively drives change towards to a circularity-oriented construction industry.

Read more on these topics and the assessments of Prof. Knaack and Prof. Hildebrand in the Professional Article on our website.